TItis volume is the first effort to compile representative work in the emerging research area on the relationship of disability and physical environment since Barrier-Free Environments, edited by Michael Bednar, was published in 1977. Since that time, disability rights legislation like the Americans, with Disabilities Act in the United States, the worldwide growth of the independent-living move ment, rapid deinstitutionalization, and the maturation of functional assessment methodology have all had their impact on this research area. The impact has been most noticeable in two ways-fostering the integration of environmental vari ables in rehabilitation research and practice, and changing paradigms for environ mental interventions. As the contributions in this volume demonstrate, the relationship of disabil ity and physical environment is no longer of interest primarily to designers and other professionals concerned with managing the resources of the built environ ment. The physical environment has always been recognized as an important variable affecting rehabilitation outcome. Until recently, however, concepts and tools were not available to measure its impact in clinical practic~ and outcomes research. In particular, lack of a theoretical foundation that integrated environ ment with the disablement process hampered development of both research and clinical methodology. Thus, the physical environment received little attention from the mainstream rehabilitation research community. However, this situation is changing rapidly.

Klappentext
This collection focuses on methods for measuring the role of the physical environment in the disablement process and the limitations of current theory, knowledge, and research in the field. Linking the chapters is a new paradigm of research on accessibility, which emphasizes that disability is both a social and an individual process and is consistent with recent developments in a disability rights, rehabilitation practice, and environmental design.

Inhalt
I. Theory.- 1. Theory as a Basis for Research on Enabling Environments.- 2. Research Implications of Universal Design.- 3. Space Requirements for Accessibility: Cross-Cultural Comparisons.- II. Reliability and Validity.- 4. The Enabler Applied to Occupational Therapy: Reliability of a Usability Rating Scale.- 5. Measuring the Influences of Physical Environments on the Behaviors of People with Impairments.- 6. Measuring Constraints to Inhabitant Activities.- 7. Assessing Special Care Units for Dementia: The Professional Environmental Assessment Protocol.- 8. Using Environmental Simulation to Test the Validity of Code Requirements.- III. New Directions in Research Methods.- 9. A Day's Journey Through life©: An Assessment Game.- 10. Detection and Discrimination of Tactile Warning Signals in Field Conditions.- 11. Stigma and Architecture.- 12. Evaluating Models and Measures of Environmental Performance.- IV. Measurment in Practice.- 13. Computer Simulation of Cane Techniques Used by People with Visual Impairments for Accessibility Anaylsis.- 14. Evaluating Accessibility Through Computer-Aided Design: A Software Model.- 15. Wayfinding Performance by People with Visual Impairments.- 16. Postoccupancy Evaluation of Universally Accessible Multi-Family Housing Units.- 17. Selecting PersonEnvironment Assessment.